Dr Francesco Maria Sabatini

Research Interests

Who lives with whom and why?

This question is at the core of my research interests. In other words, what are the processes and determinants underlying the distribution of biodiversity? As coordinator of sPlot – the Global Vegetation Database, I can address this question at unprecedented spatial scales. On the ground, though, my favourite study system are old-growth and virgin forests. Not only I cherish old-growth forests for their wild nature, but they are also ideal reference systems for understanding baselines and processes related to natural disturbance regimes, forest dynamics, tree demography, and carbon cycling, and how these processes are modified by forest management.

2014–2015Postdoctoreal Researcher, Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza, University of Rome (Italy). Cofunded by LIFE+11 (NAT/IT/135) project FAGUS – Forests of the Apennines: Good practices to conjugate Use and Sustainability

2014Visiting Scholar at Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic)

2010–2014PhD, Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza, University of Rome (Italy)